By: Barbara Kumah
The General Jurisdiction 7, division of the High Court, Accra, presided over by Justice Ali Baba Abature, has dismissed an application for a 10-day interim injunction filed by New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Ablekuma North Constituency in the 2024 election, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, seeking to restrain the Electoral Commission’s (EC) from going ahead with Friday’s re-run elections in 19 out of 281 polling stations in the constituency.
Justice Baba, refused the application as unmeritorious, and held that the balance of convenience tilts in favour of the Electorate EC, who has the constitutional mandate to conduct elections for the people of Ablekuma North in general to have a representation in parliament which is their constitutional right.
The New Patriotic Party Candidate for the 2024 parliamentary election, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, filed the application for Interim injunction, on July 7, arguing that the EC’s decision violates a binding High Court ruling from January 4, 2025, which ordered the Commission to complete the collation of 62 outstanding polling station results and declare a winner for the December 7, 2024, parliamentary election.
Gary Nimako Marfo, lawyer for Madam Afriyie argued that following the January ruling, the EC confirmed in numerous publications and communications including a press released on January 27, 2025, and a parliamentary briefing by Deputy EC Chair, Dr. Bossman Asare, that only three polling stations were left to be uncollated.
According to Nimako Marfo, decision to rerun 19 polling stations is without justification and also direct affront to the court’s ruling. The lawyer went ahead to argue, that all polling station results, or had already been certified by party agents and presiding officers at the time of the election, which makes Friday’s rerun both unnecessary and unlawful.
Gary Nimako Marfo, argued further that a rerun can only occur if there is a tie, while referring to Regulation 42 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), which states that a rerun only in the case of an equality of votes, a condition the EC has not claimed. Per his argument, EC, who have gone back to the Court, for clarifications, if it had challenges complying with the Court’s orders from. January 4, instead of the unilaterally opting for a rerun, which he described as a contemptuous act.
The presiding judge, Justice Ali Baba Abature, questioned why the applicant, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, had shown that the results could legally be collated without further verification by presiding officers, which the lawyer had failed to establish clearly under the provisions of C.I. 127.
In his ruling, Justice Abature held that the EC holds the constitutional mandate to conduct elections, and any delay in allowing the rerun would deprive the people of Ablekuma North of their right to representation in Parliament. The judge also ruled that the EC, as an institution of government , would be in a position to compensate the applicant with damages if she is successful in her substantive legal challenge.
